Given the undeniable convenience of online shopping, enticing customers into physical stores has become a pressing concern for retailers. Yet, successfully luring them in is just the first step in a more intricate journey. Achieving conversions and cultivating repeat purchases is a vital challenge.
Understanding the significance of how to increase conversion rates, let’s delve into effective tips and methods that retail stores can utilize to bolster their customer conversion rates and ensure sustained footfall.
How to Increase Conversion Rates: Optimize Stock
Needless to say, the quickest way to lose sales is to not have the items that people want to buy. Customers can get turned off quickly if they show up at a store and don’t find what they went there to buy. Not only are they likely to leave the store but it’s possible they won’t come back to that store in the future. For their most popular items, retailers need to make sure there is always a healthy stock supply. It may sound overly simple, but this is the best way to turn customer visits into sales.
To simplify this process, why not turn to handy inventory tools such as smart shelving scales? Equipped with state-of-the-art sensors that seamlessly integrate into existing inventory management systems, these innovative tools ensure that you can oversee your stock levels precisely, ensure a continuous supply of high-demand products, as well as avoid over-ordering and loss, and finally, save precious time manually managing inventory.
How to Increase Conversion Rates: Reduce Similar Items
Sometimes offering a wide selection of products can be counterintuitive. If there are too many items that are more or less the same, it can actually hurt sales. It can leave customers a little confused and unsure of what product is the right one. Carrying a couple of different brands of the same product is fine because consumers might prefer one brand over another. However, reducing the amount of similar items available can make it easier for customers to find exactly what they want and finalize sales.
How to Increase Conversion Rates: Develop Attractive Window Displays
While it might be considered a little old-fashioned to rely on window displays, this is still an important element in conversation rates. A store’s most popular and attractive items should be easy to find and placed in some form of display or showcase. Obviously, an attractive exterior can help to get customers into a store. However, by placing popular and desirable items in those displays, consumers will know exactly what they want when they enter the store, which will help to ensure that sales are completed.
How to Increase Conversion Rates: Create a Sensible Store Layout
One of the most fundamental methods of converting customer visits into sales is creating a store layout that makes sense. Try to get into the minds of consumers and think about a layout that would make sense to them. While it’s best to keep the entrances clear since customers will typically walk past these items, a retailer’s more popular items should be closer to the front of the store and easier to find. Likewise, items that could be considered complementary to one another should be placed near each other. This will make it easier for customers to make those connections, helping retailers to convert more sales.
How to Increase Conversion Rates: Reduce Wait Times
In the modern landscape, customers quickly grow frustrated when faced with long checkout lines. Given the ease of online shopping and home delivery, individuals have become increasingly intolerant of delays. As a result, they might opt to abandon their in-store purchases altogether if confronted with the prospect of waiting in line.
The more you can reduce wait times for customers checking out, the easier it’ll be to improve conversion rates. Employing smart carts to calculate the final price before customers reach the checkout can significantly reduce wait times. Consequently, customers can swiftly proceed to payment, streamlining the entire checkout process.
How to Increase Conversion Rates: Invest in Mobile POS
Another way to reduce wait times and increase conversion rates is to utilize mobile POS stations. Advances in retail technology have made this possible in some settings. Rather than customers finding what they want and going to a checkout station, employees can carry around mobile POS tools with them, enabling employees to go to the customers rather than the other way around. With this type of setup, employees can assist customers who need help, close the sale, and handle payment all at the same time. This can help to improve the customer experience and improve conversion rates at the same time, so everybody wins.
How to Increase Conversion Rates: Incorporate Self Checkout Stations
In addition to mobile POS stations, many retailers have found success with self-checkout technology. This makes it possible for customers to make contactless purchases and pay for their items without assistance from an employee. Today’s consumers have become more receptive to this type of technology and are more likely to visit a store and complete a purchase if self-checkout is an option. Again, this is a way to help customers save time and improve their in-store experience, which will in turn lead to better conversion rates.
How to Increase Conversion Rates: Be Flexible with Payment
Along with mobile and self-checkout POS stations, it’s essential to offer a variety of payment options. Most customers, especially younger generations, don’t make a lot of cash purchases. They want to be able to pay for things with a credit card, their phone, and other tech-driven options. Keep in mind that it’s surprisingly easy to lose sales if your store doesn’t offer the preferred payment method of certain customers. But by diversifying payment and POS options, fewer sales will be lost and conversion rates will be improved.
How to Increase Conversion Rates: Staff Properly
As the expression goes, it takes money to make money. If retailers want to maximize their conversion rate and make more sales, they need to invest in their staff. Retailers need to make sure they have an adequate amount of staffing based on the number of sales and potential sales in a given time frame. In other words, busier times of day require more employees because being short-staffed can sometimes cost sales.
For example, if there aren’t enough employees to manage POS stations, long wait times could inspire customers to leave before completing their purchase. Likewise, there also needs to be enough sales associates available to answer questions and address any other concerns that could interfere with potential sales. This is typically something that’s within the control of stores, so there is no reason to lose sales because of poor staffing.
How to Increase Conversion Rates: Train Employees Properly
Of course, it’s not enough to have an adequate amount of staff members; they also have to be well-trained to handle their job duties. Employees need to know the store’s products inside and out and they need to know all of the ways that they can influence conversion rates in a positive way. In other words, employees need to be trained on how to speak to customers, how to ask the right questions, and how to close sales. Obviously, it helps to have smart and hard-working employees. However, retailers are also in control of how they train employees in a way that can help to improve conversion rates.
How to Increase Conversion Rates: Be Creative
Frankly, it’s a brave new world for retailers and they need to be open-minded to any possibility. Any new idea that comes up is worth exploring if it goes beyond the boring and traditional retail methods. Anything that can help distinguish your retail store from the pack is potentially a good idea. The retail world has changed so much in a short period of time that experimenting with new ideas isn’t a bad thing.
If your store’s conversion rates aren’t reaching an acceptable level, we can help! Our innovative tools and strategies are designed to streamline the shopping experience and ensure customer satisfaction, helping your retail business thrive in the modern market.
To discover how our comprehensive range of solutions can significantly increase conversion rates in retail stores, as well as overall performance, reach out to our experts today! We’re keen to help you reach your retail goals.